3 things to watch at Knicks training camp, including Karl-Anthony Towns extension talks

The World Champion Knicks begin training camp on Monday.

Here are three things to keep an eye on while the team prepares to defend its title…

EXTENSION TENSION?

Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart and Miles McBride are all eligible for extensions.

As noted earlier this week, Towns’ side and the Knicks have been in regular contact throughout the offseason about the extension. Per a league source familiar with the matter, the talks have been positive. And the Knicks have made it known that they want Towns in New York for a long time.

Towns has also previously said that he wants to be a Knick for a long time, yet no deal has come to fruition.

ESPN reports that negotiations have become stagnant and an agreement ahead of camp is unlikely. I’m not refuting that reporting, but I’d be surprised if the situation hung over the team like a cloud during camp, as ESPN suggested.

Towns, per SNY sources familiar with the matter, has been at the Knicks facility ahead of the start of camp.

Based on recent history, I think any issue like this will generate much more noise outside of the Knick locker room than inside of it. The team is just coming off of a timeless championship run. Towns and the Knicks have until June 30 to come to an agreement, but it’s also worth pointing out Towns’ negotiations may impact extension talks for Hart and McBride.

Towns is making $57 million this season, he has a $61 million player option for next year, and is eligible for a four-year extension worth as much as $276 million.

At one point in offseason discussions, the Knicks made offers to Towns that started between $45 million and $50 million per season, per league sources. The length of those offers is unknown. Clearly, those offers were rejected. If Towns and the Knicks don’t find common ground on an extension, he won’t opt out of his $61 million player option for 2027-28.

Towns opting out would give the Knicks much more flexibility under the second apron to extend Hart, and possibly, McBride. But if he opts in for 2027-28, the Knicks will have much less financial flexibility under the second apron for other extensions.

To get more perspective on potential extensions for Towns, Hart, and McBride, I reached out to my friend and salary cap guru Yossi Gozlan, founder of The Third Apron.

For our hypothetical, Gozlan uses $75 million as a combined annual salary for the first year of Towns and Hart extensions. With this number, the Knicks would have roughly $13-$14 million in second apron space to offer McBride.

Let’s say the first year of Towns and Hart extensions are a combined $65 million (**not realistic, in my view but we’ll use it for purposes of the exercise). The Knicks in this scenario would have roughly $23 million in space under the second apron. This, as Gozlan notes, should be enough to sign McBride and a good backup big man.

The Knicks have to project these extensions out further than next season, obviously. And when you look ahead to 2028-29, the numbers look a bit different, since Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby are eligible for extensions during the 2027 offseason.

Let’s say Brunson signs a max extension. If you take Brunson’s deal and combine it with a total $75-$80 million in extensions for Towns and Hart, the Knicks would have around $10 million under the second apron for either McBride or another player. In this example, Anunoby does not sign an extension. That $10 million is certainly below McBride’s market value. So that’s where the situation gets tricky.

A couple of things can change here — the salary cap numbers for future seasons can come in higher than current projections, which would give the Knicks more room under the second apron. Or the Knicks could change course and decide to spend above the second apron in team salary, but owner James Dolan has said that the organization will not spend above the second apron this season.

If the cap projections are accurate and the Knicks want to stay below the second apron, it will be difficult to extend Towns, Hart, and McBride under current configurations.

In that case, it will be interesting to see how the organization approaches McBride’s future. There are pathways to retain McBride via extension or via free agency — but each pathway requires additional decisions/moves. I assume teams have — and will continue to — ask the Knicks about the possibility of trading for McBride.

CAMP CONFRONTATIONS?

As of Friday morning, the Knicks have 18 players under contract — teams can have a maximum of 21 players under contract during training camp. I expect that rookie Tyler Nickel will take up one of the remaining spots, and I expect versatile third-year wing Kevin McCullar will eventually have a roster spot, as well.

Will the Knicks add another veteran ahead of camp?

Earlier this month, they signed veterans Bruce Brown Jr., John Konchar, and Ochai Agbaji to compete for a wing position. They also signed big men Drew Eubanks and James Wiseman to compete for a center position.

It will be interesting to watch those veterans during training camp and preseason games (you can expect Knicks regulars to play fewer minutes this preseason, so the team will have a chance to get an extended look at other players).

If the Knicks decide that they need a veteran center and wing on the roster, they will need to make a trade to shed salary.

As things currently stand, the Knicks only have room for one veteran minimum contract if they want to remain under the second apron in team salary. So, for example, if they wanted to keep Eubanks and Konchar, they would need to shed salary via trade.

They were in this situation last year with Landry Shamet, Malcolm Brogdon, and Garrison Mathews.

They only had room to keep one of those veterans, but were considering keeping two of them. Brogdon decided to retire (at the time of his retirement, there was no guarantee he was going to make the roster, despite reports to the contrary). So the Knicks kept Shamet and the veteran responded with a great season, making pivotal plays throughout the title run.

ROTATION ALTERATION?

Speaking of Shamet, I’ll be interested to see how Mike Brown deploys his bench this season — maybe we get some clues about his bench approach during preseason games.

The defending champs (it still feels a bit foreign to type that phrase) have a deep bench with Shamet, McBride, Jose Alvarado, and Andre Drummond. They also have a pair of young players in Tyler Kolek and Mohamed Diawara who showed that they can contribute last season.

The Knicks showed their commitment to Shamet (four years, $24 million), Alvarado (three years, $14.3 million), Diawara (four years, $11.2 million) and Clarkson (one year, $3.8 million) by re-signing them in the offseason. Kolek is under contact this season with a team option for next season (deadline to decide is June 29, 2027).

But Brown last season made it clear that he doesn’t play favorites/politics with his rotation minutes. He’s not going to play someone who isn’t producing just because they have a strong financial commitment from the Knicks.

He benched Clarkson early in the 2025-26 season and went back to him later in the year and in the postseason. Same goes for Alvarado. He benched free agent signee Guerschon Yabusele early in the 2025-26 season, as well. So the players who start the season in Brown’s rotation will not necessarily be the players who finish the season in it.